Support
by ariannalupin
Summary: Elliot Spencer is in love with Jasmine Potter and her son Teddy Lupin. He fights for them and tries to return home at the end of every job. What happens when they get dragged into a con? FemHarry Spoilers season3, all 7 books, no epilogue.
1. Chapter 1

AN: AU- female Harry (my first one). Everything is canon up to the epilogue. For now this is an oneshot to try and get me back into writing creatively. I am working on my other stories, really, but have hit some roadblocks. Thank you for your continued support. This is a fandom I haven't tried before, but I love Leverage (if you haven't seen it, watch it) and there needs to be more crossovers for it and Harry Potter.

Jasmine Potter carefully inserted her key into the lock of her flat. She slowly turned it, trying to be as quiet as possible opening the door. She had received a text earlier in the day informing her that Eliot was back in town and in rough shape, so she had no desire to wake him up. Of course, with her luck, the lock jammed yet again, and she was forced to jam her shoulder against the door and jimmy the lock to get it open. This alerted her two dogs, Padfoot and Mooney, to her arrival. Once they started barking, Jasmine gave up and pounded on the door, hoping that one of her two flat mates would un-jam the door.

"You know, you should get this door fixed?" Eliot stood there in all his half-clothed glory. Bruises stood out in stark contrast on his skin. A hastily done stitching job marred his left shoulder and his right arm was heavily bandaged above the elbow.

She shoved her way past him, only to be tackled and mauled by the two dogs. "You look like shite Eliot."

He smiled, "You sure know how to welcome a man back home."

"Oh, should I have been waiting here with dinner on the table and a pair of house slippers, ready to do your bidding," by this time she had stood and drawn Eliot into her arms.

"Darlin' I may have had a heart attack if I came home to that," he took a deep sniff of her hair, smelling her strawberry shampoo.

"C'mon, I'll make you some dinner," she turned and headed into the kitchen, "I'm no world-class chef, but is spaghetti okay?"

"Sounds fine" Eliot answered as he propped himself at the bar, on the kitchen stool. "Your roommate going to be joining us for dinner?"

"Don't know," she shrugged, "he left a few days after you and I haven't heard from him since. He had a business meeting back in Britain. You could call him by his name you know."

Eliot remained silent. Jasmine huffed in response and began to shift through the pots under the sink in order to find one large enough to make spaghetti for three.

"Where's Teddy?" "At a friend's until six. He should be back before dinner is ready. If you want you could go get him."

"I guess I could. But," he continued with a smirk, "I'd have to put a shirt on."

Jasmine rolled her eyes at the box of pasta in her hands, "Oh, the horror. Don't deprive me of the sight of your half-naked body."

Eliot stood and made his way to the bedroom to grab a shirt, "Where's his friend's?" "Three floors down, apartment 215. Thank you."

Eliot hummed to let her know he heard and then headed out of the apartment to the stairs. He knocked gently on the door and was met by a relatively young woman, maybe 25, "I'm here to pick-up Teddy." She looked like she was about to protest, much to the satisfaction of Eliot who did not want Teddy to just be given over to a stranger, but before she could Eliot felt the impact of a four year old hitting his legs shouting his name.

"Eliot, you back. Is mum home? Is Draco?" Eliot smiled at the boy, gingerly lifting him in his left arm, "Yes, I am. Yes she is. Not that I know of," Eliot answered in order, "Now, are you ready to go home and get dinner? Your Mum is making spaghetti."

"Yay, sgetti!" Eliot turned to the woman in the door, accepting Teddy's backpack from her, "Thanks for watching him. I'm sure Jazz will call you soon." Eliot turned, Teddy still in his arms, and headed back up the stairs.

Jasmine had dinner on the table when the two boys came in. She was greeted by an excited squeal of "Mummy!" She took Teddy from Eliot and swung him around before handing him back, "Did you have a good day sweetie?"

Teddy nodded his head emphatically nine or ten times, "I drewed you a picture Mummy." He tried to wiggle out of Eliot's arm causing a pained wince to cross Eliot's face. Jasmine was quick to admonish him, "Teddy hold still. Ask Eliot nicely to put you down."

Teddy stopped moving and turned to Eliot, "May I get down please?"

Eliot smiled, "Sure little man."

Once Teddy's feet hit the ground he was yanking open his backpack and pulling out a stack of papers. He handed the slightly crumpled stack to Jasmine who flipped through the papers and went to hang them on the refrigerator.

Later, after dinner was eaten and Teddy sent to bed, Eliot and Jasmine were cuddling on the bed. "Do you need me to look at any of your injuries?"

Eliot grunted, "They'll heal."

"I know, but I want to help if I can."

"Don't worry about it Darlin'," Eliot pulled her closer to his side.

"Now that this last job is over will you stop?"

Eliot sat up and turned away from her, swinging his bare legs sideways over the bed. Jasmine sat up quickly, wrapping her arms around him, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked. I know this is your life and you enjoy it."

"Are you sure you even want me around that much?"

Jasmine tightened her arms slightly, "Of course I do. I love you. Teddy loves you. Even Draco likes you."

Eliot turned to her, "You shouldn't love me. I've done some awful things working for Moreau."

Jasmine sighed, "Eliot I know all of this. We talked about it. I _do not care_. I love you, all of you, even the not so pleasant, violent parts."

Eliot leaned forward, resting his head on his hands dejectedly, "I've already accepted a job. Let me do it and then we'll talk."

Jasmine could do nothing but nod at that point if she wanted Eliot to stay for the rest of his time off. The two settled down to sleep shortly after. Jasmine nodded off fairly quickly, but Eliot stayed awake long into the night, thinking about the choices he faced in the coming weeks. He loved Jasmine and Teddy and could tolerate Draco, yet he wasn't sure he was ready to settle down. He didn't have any skills he considered useful to raising a family and he refused to live off the Potter and Malfoy inheritances, even though he knew neither would mind.

_One more job _he tells himself_, one more job and then I'll figure something out._

One more job? How it all went to hell in a hand basket.

Eliot could not believe the situation he was in. Blown up by some stupid, fat, cowardly little man who had refused to pay him his due, and handcuffed to a hospital chair. He absolutely hated being chained up. Of course, hospitals weren't on his list of favorite places to visit either. Though he was nothing like Nathan Ford, who seemed to have a strong dislike of all hospital things in general.

_OK,_ Eliot thought as he listened to Nate's plan, _I may actually get out of this mess as a freeman. Jazz would kill me if I got arrested._

Once out of the hospital, holding a ticket to who-knows-where, Eliot was ready to listen to any plan of revenge that ended with him back home by Teddy's fifth birthday. He understood Nate's reasons for being so pissed off as well. If anyone used Teddy like Dubenich had used Nate's boy, nothing in the world would stop Eliot from ruining him or her.

Sophie's a piece of work. She and Nate were going to drive him crazy with the tension. Parker, a heap of crazy wrapped in a pretty blond package, actually understood his methods, thought not how far he was prepared to take it.

At the end, standing with enough money to retire, Eliot realized he couldn't. He could not just walk away from this life. But, maybe, the shift from one side to the other would help him make the transition.

Jazz did not speak to him for a week after he told her he decided to continue in his line of work. Then he had to grovel to be allowed to come to Teddy's birthday party. Eventually, though, she was calm enough to actually discuss his decision with him.

They sat at the kitchen table, Teddy away at preschool for the morning. Jasmine had put tea on the table, but neither felt like drinking, so the cups sat with steam rising off of them, growing colder by the minute.

Jasmine broke the silence, "I'm sorry I overreacted to your news. I shouldn't have threatened to keep Teddy from you. "

Eliot sighed and ran his hands through his hair, "I'm sorry about staying in the game. If it really upsets you this much I can try to quit."

"It's not that Eliot. I don't care if you continue to work, I get that the transition would be difficult for you. I'm mad that you didn't discuss it with me before you committed to anything. If we're going to be a family, then we have to at least discuss important decisions with each other."

Nodding his head Eliot continued the conversation, "Well, let me tell you about this new job. I'm working with a team. The leader, he is a good guy, a white knight. He's all about doing the right thing and helping people."

She hmmed in response, "Well at least he will try and keep you alive, yes?"

Eliot laughed, "He should. You know that I will always do my best to come back to you right?"

Jasmine stood and walked around the table, settling herself in his lap, "I know. I know that this is hard for you, that you're still not used to having people who care and want you to come back unscathed."

Eliot shrugged, "That may be true, but I'm finding that I quite like the feeling. Even if it means having to stop chasing beautiful women in bars."

Her chuckle, deeper than most women's, filled the loft, "Eliot if you wanted to take me out and pretend we didn't know each so you could pick me up, all you had to do was say something."

The first time Eliot had to involve Jasmine in his job was after Serbia. His team had found a dozen orphans that needed a place to stay. She pulled some strings and managed to get them across the border to the WHO and then to some small, but wealthy orphanages and foster homes.

His favorite times were becoming when the job was over and he had enough time to go home and visit Jasmine and Teddy. Once the group relocated to Boston Eliot managed to convince Jasmine to move closer. Once they were nearby Eliot found it more and more difficult to stay away and not draw any attention to the relationship.

The second time that Eliot involved Jasmine was during the manticore incident. After he left Duberman's office, tired, sore and beaten pretty badly he staggered home. Jasmine nearly screamed at the sight of him and hurried him into the kitchen. She sent Teddy off with Draco for the evening in order to deal with Eliot. His mobility was so limited by his injuries that she had to cut his shirt off.

"Where's the team Eliot?"

He shrugged in response, "At a school dance."

She blinked at his words, looking slightly perplexed by them. However, she didn't press the issue, knowing that it was not her place to concern herself with Eliot's work. She quietly stitched him up, wrapped his wounds, and iced his bruises. He collapsed in bed shortly after and slept like the dead for two days.

It wasn't until Damien Moreau came around that things changed. Moreau always knew too much about his opponents, if he knew their faces. He knew Eliot, he knew about Jasmine and Teddy, and he displayed no qualms about using them in his favor.

With Hardison under water, Moreau began threatening.

"How's the little woman Eliot? Are you still seeing her? How about her son?"

"You know I am Moreau or you wouldn't have brought her up."

Moreau smirked, "That makes this easy then, you do what I want, without screwing me over, and they stay safe and your client gets a buy-in."

It was why he agreed to the murder that Moreau wanted, why he told Nate about his past, and why he let Hardison manhandle him. If it had just been the job, Eliot would have walked away, kidnapping his crew if he needed to.

As the con went on Eliot became more and more nervous. When it turned out that Moreau had found out about the con, Eliot's immediate fear was that he had had time to get to Jasmine and Teddy. That fear, and the determination to stop anything like that from happening, was what got Eliot through picking up the gun and killing all those men.

On his way to the airport to stop Moreau Eliot called Jasmine. The phone just kept ringing.


	2. Explantations

**AN: Sorry it took so long to get this out. I started a new job and it's begun to suck up my time. I also am trying to work on my other stories. I want to finish them so badly. And I've started reading Glee fics pretty religiously, so now I have an idea for one that won't leave my head.**

**Everything with Malfoy, Sterling, and their connections/friendship/owing favors will be explained in the next chapter, and we will get some of Teddy and Jasmine's perspective on all of this.**

Explanations to the Team

Elliot was panicking a week later when the team was meeting at Nate's apartment. They had all just agreed to go after Moreau, but they still had no idea that Elliot's girl and her son may be in danger. He paced like crazy in front of the wall of TV screens trying to think of a good way to explain what was going on to the team while, at the same time, formulate a plan that would keep Jazz and Teddy alive.

"We have a major problem," Elliot said as he finally stopped pacing, "It's bigger than any of you know."

"What did you do Elliot?" Nate asked, and Elliot is ready to scream because, really, none of this would have happened if they had taken his advice and left Moreau alone.

"What did I do? Nothing! Except try to save your sorry asses, and, in turn, risked the most important thing in my life. If you had listened Nate and not gone behind our backs in this whole deal then no one would be in danger."

Only Parker caught the meaning behind his words, which seriously worried Elliot, "Elliot we're always in danger, who does Moreau have over you?"

Elliot was saved from answering by his phone ringing, "Hello?"

"Spencer, just the man I wanted to talk to," Moreau responded, "I have someone for you to talk to."

"Elliot?" Teddy's voice was laced with fear and Elliot gestured frantically for Hardison to start tracing the call.

"I'm here buddy. Are you okay?"

"Y-yes, but Mummy's hurt and they won't let me see her. I want my mummy Elliot," Teddy was in tears at the end.

"I know buddy. Just do what they tell you and I'm going to come get you alright," Elliot tried to put as much reassurance as possible into his voice.

"Please d-daddy, I'm scared," Elliot nearly cried when Teddy called him daddy. He had only called Elliot daddy once before, when he broke his arm 6 months ago.

Before Eliot could respond to his _son_ Moreau came back on the line, "Isn't that sweet? The poor boy wants his _daddy_. What are you going to do now Spencer?"

"What do you want Moreau?" Eliot ground out.

"Call Ford and his team off of me. Fix the mess you have caused and you can have them back, relatively unharmed." The phone clicked off and it was all Eliot could do to not throw it across the room in frustration and anger.

The team blinked at him, having heard most of the conversation through Hardison's tracking program. Parker raised her hand and Eliot nodded at her, "When did you get married?"

"While I don't see how that question matters, I'm not married and, in case you're going to ask, Teddy's not mine either."

Nate buries his head in his hands, "Do you realize how complicated this has just gotten?"

Eliot scoffed, "Please, this was complicated from the very beginning. Damien Moreau is not a man we should have dealt with in the first place. He is more dangerous than anyone we have ever come across. If he knew more about any of you then your family would be in danger. Think about it, Maggie, Archie, Nana, all of them would be in danger.

_"I_ took the biggest risk. _You_ didn't listen when I warned you all away from this con. I kept my promise, I kept this team safe, but you never listen Nate, you think you know best. And now a woman who I love, who has tried to live a good life, a better life than us, and her 7 year old son are in danger." And then, Eliot broke. He collapsed and began sobbing.

Sophie blinked at him, cautiously approaching the broken man, Nate looked slightly ashamed and unable to face his devastated hitter, and Hardison was actually doing his job, trying to track Moreau's location.

"We'll find them Eliot and I'll steal them back, I'm a thief its what I do," Parker was, surprisingly, the one to offer actual comfort.

"Thanks Parker," Eliot's voice was gruffer than usual, he had finished crying and now looked ready to kill someone.

"So what are we going to do?" Eliot turned to Nate, "You're the man with plan, so figure something out."

Instead of answering Eliot, Nate to out his phone and began to speak rapidly in Italian to person on the other end. Then he had Hardison pull up all the political opponents to Ribera and the team quickly began scouting each one out. Slowly they narrowed down their options and called up Eliot's contact, General Flores on the phone. The conversation they had with him was enlightening, but Eliot couldn't help feel bad that it landed up with Flores getting arrested. He only thanked whatever higher power was around that Moreau did not realize whom Flores was talking to.

The final trick that they had to perform was to get into the country without Moreau realizing, at least until they could hack into the security cameras and find Jasmine and Teddy. To do that Sophie made a call to Tara, seeing if she was free to come in and act as part of the team, since Moreau knew what Nate looked like. Eliot, with great trepidation, also called up Sterling who owed Jasmine a favor.

"Sterling? It's Spencer, I need your help."

"Why should I help you?" Sterling's tone made Eliot wish that he could reach through the phone and punch him.

"It's for Jasmine."

That caused the tone to change slightly, "What did you do?"

"Nate went after Moreau and he took her and Teddy in order to assure that we would back off. You know Moreau, better than anyone who hasn't worked for him. You realize what would happen once we back off completely and he feels safe."

"They're dead," the Englishman answered quietly.

"Exactly. You owe her, and you owe her big Sterling. Not to mention the sway that Malfoy has fingers in every pie in England, including Interpol."

Sterling sighed, "I know my debts Spencer, and I will repay them. What do you need me to do?"

"Get the coverage on the election in San Lorenzo watched as closely as possible for anything. Try and get as many U.N. inspectors assigned there as possible, drop interagency hints if you have to. I'll call Malfoy and get his assistance."

"Good luck with Malfoy. You'll be lucky if he doesn't kill you after all this is over, or before and just threatens Moreau to give her back.

Eliot let out a gruff laugh, "Thanks for the warning and the help Sterling."

He hung up the phone slowly, ignoring the weird looks he got from the team and went to dial Draco Malfoy."


	3. Fear and Pain

**AN: First I want to say thank you for all the support (no pun intended) that you have given me on this fic. To my reviewers, I treasure every one your thoughts and encouragements. To those who have favorited me or put me on alert I want to say thank you as well.**

**Second, this chapter is very short. I tried to continue it for a week, but this seems to be the place where it wants to stop. So, no Teddy in this chapter or back-story. Both of those will come in the next chapter, which I have already started.**

**Third- Enjoy!**

**Fear and Pain**

When the heavy noise of feet wearing boots approached her front door Jasmine Potter thought nothing of it, assuming that it was Eliot coming back from whatever job he last had. He had been so secretive about it and she was really worried about him. It was only when two more sets of footsteps sounded in the hall, and no key turned in the lock that Jasmine began to get uncomfortable. She turned off the stove where she was making dinner and hurried to Teddy's room. As she reached to hallway a THUD followed by the crashing sound of the door hitting the floor echoed through the apartment.

Jasmine ran toward Teddy, planning to fight her way out from there. However, once she reached the room, she froze in horror. Two men were already in the room. One held Teddy, hand over his mouth. The other casually held a gun pointed at the door. The three from the front door finally made it behind Jasmine. She put up a token struggle, stopping when Teddy let out a small squeal as the hands around him tightened.

Soon the hands holding them were replaced by rope and duct tape. The two were left sitting on the floor in the living room. One of the men had gone back to the front door and put it back into place. Teddy was crying, fat tears rolling down his face, his breath hitching as he tried to breathe through the snot clogging his nose from crying and the duct tape covering his mouth. Jasmine felt helpless. Every time she had tried to get closer to her son one of the men guarding them had left a bruise, on her face, her side, her arms- basically wherever he had felt like it at the time.

Jasmine jumped when the phone rang and she knew that it was Eliot. It rang a total of 6 times before one of the men got annoyed and knocked the phone of the hook. Her cell phone had already been taken and turned off. Sometime after dark the head of their guards received a phone call and the two of them were escorted out of the apartment and into a waiting van.

Sometime later Jasmine blinked awake slowly. Her head was throbbing fiercely and her arm hurt like it had been broken in two, _which it has_, she thought as her eyes focused on the cast holding her arm immobile. She couldn't remember anything after getting in the van and she quickly tried to sit up and find Teddy, her efforts resulted in a pained groan and a debilitating flash of nausea. A male voice called out to her, "Are you okay?"

"Not really. Where am I?"

"The Presidential Palace in San Lorenzo"

"How the fuck did I get here? And where is my son?"

The voice on the other side of the wall made an effort to sound reassuring, "Damien Moreau brought you in," she met that piece of information with a groan, "as for your son, you were unaccompanied in, so he is most likely with Moreau."

Jasmine let out a shuddering breath, trying not to cry. If Moreau had her son then there was nothing she could do. She didn't even know what he wanted with her, though she suspected that it had to do with Eliot. That was probably why he had been so secretive the last few weeks. Moreau was dangerous, he knew too much about them, and he was not afraid to hurt people in order to get want he wanted from them.

The enormity of the situation hit her. She had no idea what to do. She couldn't use magic in any form, and her two sources of protection most likely had no idea that she was gone or where she was.

_Time jump back to Eliot and the Team after the call with Sterling_

Still trying to ignore the stares of the team Eliot waited for someone to answer the phone, "Malfoy Incorporated, Draco Malfoy's office, this is Susan, how may I help you?"

"I need to speak with Mr. Malfoy, it's urgent," Eliot answered only to grind his teeth in frustration a moment later. "I'm sorry Mr. Malfoy is unavailable at this time may I take a message?"

"Susan, look, my name is Eliot Spencer and I need to talk to Mr. Malfoy about Jasmine and Teddy, interrupt him and tell him that, he'll take my call," he was met by a sigh, "If you insist, sir."

After thirty seconds of listening to elevator music Malfoy's cultured, _smug_, voice picked up the phone, "What do you need Spencer?"

"We have a problem," Eliot figured being blunt was the right thing to do, "Moreau has Jasmine and Teddy and I need your help to get them back."

His declaration was met by absolute silence, then a heavy breath, before Malfoy growled at him, "What the _fuck_ did you do Spencer?"

"Not that you'll believe me, but this was not my fault. I tried to keep my team far away from Moreau."

Malfoy scoffed, "Well that did not work too well did it? You would not be calling if you did not have a plan, so what do need me to do?"

"Can you put pressure on businesses to watch the election in San Lorenzo. There are already U.N. officials present, but we need more than just political pressure, we need the economic angle."

"That should not be too much trouble, I hold enough sway to affect the business world and get them interested. The political side may be more difficult…" Malfoy trailed off.

"Sterling will help with that. I'm calling in one of his favors towards Jasmine."

"This should all work then. If you need anything else do not hesitate to call me, Spencer. Oh, and if Jasmine or Teddy are harmed in any way, you and your team will be dead," with that sentiment still hanging in the air Malfoy hung up.

Eliot turned and faced his team, all of whom were looking at him like he had lost his mind. He guessed he owed them some explanations.


	4. Slow Going

_**AN: Sorry it's taking me so long to update. I'm working two jobs at the moment and have an interview for a third one in a week. I'm also trying to work on my other stories and NaNoWriMo. So this is a bit short and some places are a little rushed. I do know where I want the story to go and I have a backstory set up for Jasmine/Draco/Moreau interactions (there is more to the story than Eliot knows) and for the Jasmine/Sterling debt. **_

_**One more word of warning, the Teddy narrative is kind of choppy and incoherent, I tried to do that on purpose, since Teddy is only 7.**_

_**Thanks to everybody for the alerts, favorites, and reviews. It makes me really glad to know that people are enjoying my story.**_

**Slow Going**

Teddy was scared and trying his hardest not to cry. He vaguely remembered the man towering over him from before his mummy had met Eliot. His memories included lots of shouting and gunfire and a burning building. When the man handed him a phone, Teddy was confused, then he was happy because Eliot was on the phone and Eliot could do anything, he helped Teddy learn to play football and hockey and fixed the door of the apartment for Mum. Teddy didn't quite understand why Eliot couldn't come get him right away and wanted to ask. The mean man took the phone away from him before he could, though. Teddy started crying then, his last piece of comfort taken away. The tall man yelled at Teddy to be quiet in order to obey Eliot and do whatever the man told him to. He only hoped that the man would let him see his mum soon.

He hadn't seen her since they got off the plane and he knew she was hurt. The bad men in his home had hit her a lot. Mummy was the best and had been trying to comfort him in the apartment, but it didn't matter what she said to Teddy, he knew that it wasn't going to be okay. She wasn't even awake when the plane took off. He hoped that Eliot and Uncle Draco found them soon, and that Eliot wasn't mad that Teddy had called him Daddy.

Eliot looked at his team. He owed them some explanations since his phone calls with Sterling and Malfoy. After all, Eliot hated Sterling with a passion, and the feeling was mutual, and Draco Malfoy ran what was once one of the most corrupt business conglomerations in the world.

He rubbed the back of his neck, "I guess I should start with the fact that I used to work for Moreau."

"We got that Eliot," was Hardison's response.

"Right, well, while I was working there a job went kind of south. Moreau was in negotiations for a big black market deal when the deal fell through rather quickly. It turned out that another person had managed to out bid Moreau for what he wanted. My job was to eliminate the source of the bid, one Draco Malfoy.

"I arrived at Malfoy's London town home only to find out he wasn't there and wouldn't be for a while. Instead I found a young woman and her son, Jasmine and Teddy. Teddy was two at the time, Jasmine was 19. Even though I had training in stealth and she should not have known I was watching her, she noticed me. She walked right up to me and told me that whatever Moreau wanted was not going to happen and that he should keep his business out of London.

"Needless to say, I was shocked. No one got away with sending a message like that to Moreau, and she knew it. Two days later, when I was sent back to the house with a group of hitters, the townhouse was closed up and the family was nowhere to be found. Moreau demanded that we keep looking for them, he refused to admit that Malfoy and Potter were too smart to get caught."

"Wait," Nate interrupted, "Jasmine, your Jasmine, is Jasmine Potter?"

Eliot nodded.

"I thought that Potter and Malfoy industries were competitors in almost every sector of the economy."

"They are," Eliot responded, "but Jasmine and Draco are close friends. They have begun merging parts of their companies together. Also, they do not have full control over the companies; so much of what goes on in the upper echelons is unimportant to them. Why is this important?"

"Just fact finding."

"Whatever. Anyway, I was attempting to stalk one of the two through London for nearly six months when Jasmine found me in Hyde Park. She walked right up to me and sat down on the bench.

'If I didn't know any better,' she said "I would think, since we only run into you in parks, that you were trying to kidnap my son and use him for your own nefarious purposes. I suppose though, that you following us means that Moreau doesn't know when to leave well-enough alone.'

'That would be the correct assumption,' I had no choice but to answer her since the park was full and it was broad daylight out.

'So, if I asked would you tell me your name? I'd like to know who is stalking me.'

'I don't know, why don't you ask and see?'

'What is your name?'

'You can call me Eliot.'

She smiled, 'It was nice to meet you Eliot. I'll probably see you around.'

"We kept running into each other around London. Always in a crowded place where I couldn't risk following my orders and she always managed to lose me when I tried to tail her. It was kinda frustrating over a long period of time.

"Eventually I stopped trying. Moreau had moved on to a new target, but in between those jobs I kept going back to London, kept running into Jasmine. We kept up our flirting routine, I met Teddy, and before I knew it we had begun dating. I had come to care about a target and I needed to find a way to get Moreau off of her back.

"Eventually, someone ratted me out to Moreau. I quit and he agreed to leave Jasmine and Teddy alone as long as we all avoided him and left his plans alone. We've been together ever since."

"Oh," Sophie said, and that seemed to sum up the reactions of the rest of the rest of the group as well.

"Well, that explains that, but how does she know Sterling and why does he owe her a major favor?" Nate was always the practical one.

Eliot rubbed the back of his neck, "I'm actually not sure. I just know that it is something major, and even with his help here the debt may not be repaid."

The team looked shocked at that admission, "That would be some debt. It makes me wonder what she has over him. We could exploit that connection next time we face him," Nate was always a planner.

"No," Eliot was adamant; "We are not involving Jazz or Teddy in any of our schemes. Look at how this has turned out. It could be a lot worse the next time. I am not willing to risk that and if I ever find out that you've intentionally involved them in the future I will leave this team and you will lose any protection that I provide by confrontation or reputation, and let me tell you Nate, that is something you can not afford to happen. Not with the multitude of enemies you seem to make wherever you go."

"Okay," Nate held up his hands in surrender, "If that's settled, let's go steal Eliot's girlfriend and her son back from the Moreau, and steal a country while we're at it." With that Nate clapped his hands together and walked out of the room.


	5. Apologies

_AN: First I would like to apologize to all my readers about the wait for the chapter. RL is kicking my butt right now (I'm working three jobs, not to mention being one of the official caretakers of a teen with autism) and I don't have much time to write. Secondly, for those of you who read my other stories, I am trying to work on those as well. Lastly, in this chapter we're going back to Jasmine's point of view with some Teddy and others thrown in. Now, on to the, sadly short, chapter._

Jasmine was not reassured when the men in the cells informed her of just who had her imprisoned. The problem was that Moreau had too many issues with her, Draco, and Eliot for her to determine just what was in store for her and Teddy and that sent her mind whirling with a whole mix of scenarios that scared the shit out of her. It was times like this that she wished she hadn't had to sacrifice her magic to defeat Voldemort. The only magical recourse she had was the Hollows, but they were too dangerous to use unless the situation turned dire. If Teddy's life was endangered, she would use the Hollows, damn the consequences, and explain everything to Eliot later.

Draco Malfoy was not happy at all when he hung up the phone after talking to Eliot Spencer. He had never really liked the man, how could he when the man had met Jasmine while working with Damien Moreau, and now his work had dragged Jasmine and Teddy into a life threatening situation.

This put Draco into a very difficult position because he could not risk exposing magic to save a person deemed 'muggle' by the magical governments in Europe. Technically Jasmine Potter no longer had any rights assigned to magical humans, save the few allowed for her as the guardian of a magical child, so he had to operate carefully in order to avoid getting into a mess with the international magical community. Britain may write the incident off due to Jasmine's almost mythical status, but the other countries in the would not be so forgiving of a breach in the secrecy laws. For now, he would have to handle the case as a muggle and, if the need arose, put his own life in danger to excuse the use of magic.

He picked up the phone with a sigh and began making calls, starting with Kingsley Shacklebolt, the British Minister of Magic, in order to give him fair warning over what might happen.

Eliot winced as the bright sunlight assaulted his eyes as the team made their way out of the San Lorenzo airport. He still thought that Nate's plan was an extremely bad idea, but Nate would not listen to any of his protests. Nate had a few good points about Moreau not being able to kill them while the election was going on, yet Moreau still held most of the cards in his hands.

They hadn't even arrived at their hotel before Eliot's phone went off, "Spencer, a little birdie told me that you had arrived in San Lorenzo. I, of course, told the birdie he was wrong, after all Eliot Spencer wouldn't risk the life of his child and his partner, would he?"

Eliot gulped and then lied through his teeth, "I don't know what you are talking about Moreau. I'm staying far away from San Lorenzo, just like you asked."

Moreau's voice took on a dark undertone, "Save your lies Spencer. You have 24 hours to vacate my country and get rid of the Interpol dog that you brought with you, or my next phone call won't be as…pleasant," with a click Moreau hung up.

Eliot turned to Nate, "See Nate, I told this was a bad idea. Your Italian friend did nothing to help us. You should have given me time to handle it. We have to leave and we have to leave now."

Yet Nate refused to back down. He was absolutely certain that his plan would work and that Moreau would be too nervous to try anything with the presence of election officials, UN inspectors, and Interpol present in San Lorenzo. When the call came from Moreau 24 hours later, it was worse than any of them, expect Eliot, were expecting.

"Moreau," Jasmine heard the man in the cell to her right state, "what are you doing here?"

"Don't worry, General, I'm not here for you. I'm here for Jasmine," he finished as he arrived in front of her cell.

"My dear, look at what a mess you are in. Spencer really screwed up this time. He just can't leave well-enough alone, now can he? And you are going to suffer for his arrogance and his refusal to listen."

"What do you mean? Where's Teddy?" Jasmine's voice shook with fear for her son.

Moreau answering smile was anything but comforting, "Don't you worry you're pretty little head about that. Soon you won't have the presence of mind to worry about anyone or anything but yourself."

_Oh, that's not good at all_, Jasmine thought to herself, keeping her face clear of emotion. She suppressed a whimper as one of Moreau's 'security guards' grabbed her broken arm and dragged her out of the cell.

Moreau was right, Jasmine thought to herself an hour later, she was suffering. He hadn't wasted any time in taking his displeasure in the out of control situation out on her. If she had never experienced the pain of Voldemort's anger then Jasmine was sure she would have broken already. It boggled her mind that non-magical means of torture could hurt just as much as magical ones.


	6. Pain

**AN: A caution for this chapter- it's a little jumpy, kind of on purpose, and there is a little bit of Nate bashing because, as much as I respect Nate's brilliance and his ability to care, he tends to keep too many secrets and loses sight of smaller issues if they get in the way of his overall goal.**

_She heard a scream. It wouldn't stop. Where was the noise coming from? She screamed. It hurt more than almost anything she had experienced before._

Hardison winced as the woman on the screen screamed again. Elliot had refused to let them turn the video call off or mute it in any way. Instead he sat and watched his lover scream as Moreau jabbed various implements into her and then pulled the various things out of her. Hardison had never imagined the kind of pain that one man could inflict on others. This had been going on for hours. Sophie and Nate would flit in and out of the room, mostly making sure that Elliot hadn't gotten it in his head to do something stupid. Parker had adopted her sad-puppy confused faced, not knowing how to handle the situation, and he had focused on doing his job, finding ways into Moreau's mansion, into the government buildings, and into the President's office.

_Every burst of pain came with a flash of light in front of her eyes. They added to the pain. Building, building, until it burst. Her voice was hoarse from the screams._

The silence, when it came, was sudden and deafening. All five of them focused all their attention on the screen. Jasmine had finally, mercifully passed out. Moreau turned toward the camera at that point, his shirt speckled with blood, "This is your last warning Spencer. Get out of my country; stop meddling around in things that don't concern you." With that statement the screen went black.

_She felt like a rag doll. Thrown around, boneless. Dolls couldn't feel…so she couldn't be a doll…what was she? Where was she?_

Elliot collapsed. It wasn't the same as back in Boston where he had gotten angry, he wasn't crying or raging, instead he had folded in on himself, absolutely silent. This was the most terrified of Elliot that any of them had ever been. The pure, cold, calculated fury was completely new. No one had seen that look in his eyes before, in fact, only one person alive in this world would recognize his look, and that was the woman who had been tortured on the television screen.

With deliberate movements Elliot pulled out his cell-phone and held down the number two. "Malfoy," he said, "The situation has reached a terminal point. There has been damage done."

_Nothing could describe the pain she was feeling. She needed to find someone, someone important, make sure he was okay._

There was a pause, "I understand," and another, "everything until now has gone according to plan…yes they're in position…no I haven't spoken to Sterling…alright."

He disconnected that call and placed another, "Sterling? It's time…Malfoy will handle that…not that I know of…He was but," Elliot glanced at Nate, "I'm removing that decision from him…I understand…tonight."

Next Elliot turned to Sophie, "Call Tara, tell her to start recording those news segments. Hardison will start playing them."

He then focused on Hardison, "Once Tara e-mails you the segments get them out to as many people as possible. Send the other e-mails as well. They need to be out by 10 am tomorrow, that's when the cavalry will be arriving."

He turned again, "Parker, I need you to break into the prison and steal a general and his men for me."

_There was anger all around her. Who were they mad at? Her? Someone else? The important person?_

Nate opened his mouth to interrupt, but Elliot beat him to it, "Nate, you are sitting this one out. I'm the person who has the most to lose and every one of your decisions during this case has only made things worse. You have not listened to the multitude of cautions I have given; you don't get to make any more decisions regarding this case. I have contacts outside who won't speak with you and don't trust you to handle this, we need their help in the next few days. I'm asking you as a friend, please don't make me force you."

The other members of the team turned to Nate, awaiting his response. He only nodded and sat down next to Hardison.

_Was someone coming? HELP! HELP! Nothing was coming out. It was so quiet._

Draco Malfoy slammed his phone down and stood, knocking his chair over in his haste. He strode rapidly over to the large fireplace that took up half of wall across from his desk, picked up the vase that held a bright green powder and threw into the fire. He knelt and put his head in the fire, shouting "Kingsley Shacklebolt, minister of magic."

"Lord Malfoy? What can I do for you?" Kingsley knelt down across from his fireplace.

Draco sighed and began filling him in on the situation, "So that's why I need permission to act against a muggle."

Kingsley sat back against his heels and ran a hand over his head while he thought. If the incident was taking place within British soil then giving his permission would be an easy decision, however, the fact that this was an international incident changed things. Both the muggle and magical British governments would forgive almost anything if it related to the safety of Jasmine Potter, after all she sacrificed everything, including her life and magic, to save them.

_Something was thrumming under her skin…it wanted to escape. She recognized this feeling, thrilled in it. But it wasn't coming…how was she supposed to access it?_

"Lord Malfoy, Draco, you do realize the international issues that would be raised with any action you take?"

"I do, but this is for the protection of two magical citizens in pursuit of a known criminal and I will do it without permission if needed Kingsley."

"Very well. I will grant you official Ministry permission to act in San Lorenzo, but it is limited to entering, retrieving Jasmine and Teddy, and leaving. Do not cause any problems with their government."

"Thank you Minister Shacklebolt." Draco said as he pulled his head out of the fire. He took a deep breath and called his connection to Jasmine's 'Army', the twins.

_The screaming had started again. Was it her this time? She couldn't tell. _

Elsewhere in England, James Sterling was making a similar call, though his was directed to his boss at Interpol. The three men in charge of the plan were banking on the hopes that Interpol, and therefore the ICW, would overlook the events in San Lorenzo for a chance to remove Moreau from the international markets.

Once he managed to get connected to the director of Interpol's line he was quick to explain the situation to him. Sterling faced a very tense fifteen-minute wait before he received a cautionary conformation of permission to act with Lord Malfoy and his extraction team. Considering that Moreau, at the very least, was somewhat aware of the existence of small magic, they assumed that the ICW would be willing to overlook limited magic use in a muggle affair.

_Something was going to give, pop! inside of her. _


	7. Burning

AN: I'm so, so sorry about the wait here. RL has been a bitch and I haven't had the time or the energy to write. The chapter is really short, even by my standards, less than 1000 words. The good news is that I have managed to figure out where I wanted this story to go, and how it needs to end. I predict that there will be either one more very long chapter or two moderate chapters left of this story.

After that, I will probably write a series of drabbles to explain any plot points I did not fill in (things like why Sterling owes Jasmine a debt or how Jasmine lost her magic). I will also take prompt ideas for this story, either in the form of reviews or PMs.

Burning

_Her bones were on fire…burning, burning._

Moreau was getting angry. He watched as the media began to pick apart his bought president one story at a time. He knew that Spencer was behind this; he just couldn't prove it. Worse than the commercials, though, was the influx of Interpol, UN inspectors, and businessmen with their eyes on this election. Their presence meant that his movements were seriously limited and he had to be careful with how he handled the prisoners.

His attention veered when he heard whimpers coming from the next room, signaling that the Potter girl was waking up. He never understood the hype about Potter and Malfoy, sure they were well connected, but people were terrified of them. He refocused his attention on his paperwork, ignoring the pained sounds coming from the other room.

_The power rushing through her was intoxicating. She had missed this feeling, been empty without it. It wasn't hers, though. She knew that what she was feeling couldn't be hers, no matter how much it hurt her, tore her apart, it couldn't be hers._

Draco sneered at the hotel room he was currently facing. He could not believe that Spencer's "mastermind" had been stupid to put his team so close to the presidential palace. Malfoys did not approve of such stupidity, and he was tempted to try and end the relationship between his best friend and Spencer once and for all.

_She could feel him arrive. The Malfoy magic was so familiar to her, more familiar than her own at this point, after all those years of not feeling it. Whatever was inside of her, causing her pain, reached out toward that magic._

Moreau was getting more and more nervous. He was losing control of the situation in San Lorenzo, something that never happened to him.

He jerked out of his thoughts when he heard a crash from the other room. The floor was shaking, the windows rattling in the frames. He had never felt anything like it before. He made his way to the side room. As he got closer he felt the heat burning through the room. Smoke drifted from under the door, little curling wisps that reached toward him, searching.

_She felt the heat reach outward. It was searching for the man who hurt her, searching for the boy that was hers, searching for the man she loved, and searching for her best friend. She had no control here, no control over the raging heat around her. It was going to kill her in the end._

The hairs on the back of Draco's neck were standing on end. Something was niggling the back of his mind. He did not know what he was feeling, but it felt familiar. The other wizards and witches in the room looked to be feeling the same way. Ron and the twins kept scratching the backs of their necks, and Hermione kept shifting on her feet, clearly uncomfortable. For those trained in war, this was an unusual reaction to anything. All of them were rarely, physically demonstrative of nerves.

There was nothing he could do about those feelings, though, since he had no idea where they came from. Instead, he turned his focus to the introductions at hand. Spencer had not been overly pleased when Draco had arrived with back-up.

_She felt it. She felt the moment it escaped her. Teddy, her Teddy, hurt. He hurt badly. He needed her and her magic strove to answer the call. It pushed out through her skin, she could feel it rush forward, searching, searching._

"Malfoy, why would you bring others into this?"

Draco sneered, "There are forces at work that you do not understand or know about."

Elliot took a visible breath and growled, "Why don't you explain it to me, then?"

"I can't. It's classified."

Elliot's response was a derisive snort, "Classified, right. Next you'll be telling me that you work for some secret government agency and the Jasmine is a spy."

Draco snorted, "Of course Jasmine isn't a spy, too risky."

Elliot and his team blinked stupidly at Draco for a few moments, trying to decide if he was being serious or not. Before they could ask one way or another, a shock wave shook the presidential palace next door.

_It had found him. She wrapped him in her magic, protecting and comforting him. She wanted him to stop crying. Where her magic was burning her, burning the man who made them hurt, it cushioned her son, recognizing his need._

Elliot watched shocked as Malfoy doubled over in pain, biting his lip to keep from screaming. The people he brought with him all grimaced at the same moment, their eyes going wide with shock. Elliot could feel something trying to cover him, sinking under his skin, it felt like being submerged in an electrical current, without the pain. He knew, without a doubt, that this was connected to Jasmine.

Then they heard the sirens. The Presidential Palace was burning. Flames were rising from the windows and smoke billowed into the sky. Draco and Elliot shared a look, and then ran out of the room. Jasmine and Teddy were in that building, and they knew that Jasmine was hurt pretty badly.


	8. Rescue

AN: I have no excuses. Writing just isn't easy for me at the moment. I want to thank all of you who have stuck with me, as well as all of my new followers. I am trying to write, I promise. Also, this chapter is slightly a fail, it is rushed and a little convoluted. It also is a little disconnected from the last chapter. Hopefully, all the snow in Georgia will give me enough time off of work to do some more writing.

_Two Days Previous to last chapter:_

"That's it! Your big plan was to rig an election? What were you going to do then? How were you going to ensure the survival of the prisoners?"

"No," Nate said, "not rig an election, steal one. If we can convince Moreau that he is loosing, then we can manipulate him to our advantage."

A woman, with extremely bushy brown hair, snorted, "That is the stupidest thing I have ever heard. Moreau has leverage over us. Once he realizes what you are doing, he will not hesitate to kill both Jasmine and her son. You are not used to working in situations where hostages are on the line."

It looked like she was about to go on, but Draco interrupted, "Hermione, enough. You can explain why the man is an idiot later, for now we need to figure out how to fix this mess. Elliot, do you know where Jasmine or Teddy is?"

Elliot shook his head, "She was in the tombs under the palace, but, on the video we saw, it looked like she had been moved. We haven't been able to figure out where, yet. She could have been moved back to the tombs, as well. As for Teddy, we know that he is somewhere close to Moreau and away from Jasmine, but that's it."

"Alright, that's the first thing we need to do. Hermione, twins, and Neville you need to find Jasmine. Ron and Blaise, your job is to search for Teddy. Locate them, but do not try retrieval, yet. Remember, if possible, we need to keep our involvement in this operation a secret. Astoria and I will organize with Sterling, let's see if we can't get Interpol or the UN inspectors to find the two-ensuring that Moreau receives the blame."

Elliot took a deep breath and headed into the center of the palace. He was following the woman who had been introduced as Hermione. She had found the room that Jasmine was being kept in, though Elliot had no idea how she had done so, and it was his job to watch the room until they could tie Moreau to Jasmine's torture. Sterling was waiting for the call, leading a group of UN inspectors through the palace for a surprise inspection. If everything went to plan they would manipulate Moreau to check on Jasmine at the same time the UN inspectors were in the area.

Sterling could not believe that he was in this situation. He was willing to help Jasmine Potter, but the way that Ford ran his team was ridiculous. He couldn't believe that they had been so successful over the course of their existence. In fact, he bet a lot of it had to do with pure, dumb luck. Malfoy was a different story, however, and he appreciated the ruthlessness of his plans.

_Burning in her bones, all around her. She was awake, she knew it, yet it seemed like she was living in a dream. Nothing was in focus, She couldn't see, couldn't breathe. She had to find the child, her child, before it was too late. The magic, the magic that had once been hers burned through her veins. She was not prepared for it. _

Ron and Blaise had finally located Teddy. Funnily enough, he was located one floor directly below where Spencer and the others had found Jasmine. Luckily, Teddy appeared unharmed except for a few bumps and bruises. Like with Jasmine, they wanted to tie Moreau to Teddy's situation as well.

Nate's job was to formulate a plan to piss off Moreau enough that he would go back to Jasmine in retaliation. That was easy enough. Moreau had a hair trigger with this election and Nate was very good at pissing off his opponents. The dog-fighting story was a stroke of genius. Moreau headed to Jasmine almost immediately.

That was the last piece of the plan to work. Yes, they had managed to prove that Moreau was a bad guy, they had tied both Moreau and the President to Jasmine, though not to Teddy, yet before anything could be done, a fire started in the palace. It had felt like a bomb going off, starting in the center of the palace and moving outwards. No one knew where it came from, but it burned hot and fast through the wings, forcing everyone out at a run.

Parker and Hardison had been forced to speed up all the plans concerning releasing evidence against Moreau and in regards to rescuing the general and his men from underneath the palace.

_She found him. Felt him moving through the building. Someone had her child. Who? Could she trust him? He felt familiar, but why? She let her magic go…it recognized the man, even if she didn't._

_Someone had her. She felt her body moving, though she was not in control of it. Her magic hurt. She had not felt it flow in years. She couldn't control it. _

Eliot carried a screaming Jasmine out of the palace. A strange electric sensation washed over the both of them, making the hairs on his arm stick up. Beyond that sensation, Jasmine seemed relatively unharmed besides the wounds he had watched Moreau inflict on her. When they approached the team with Teddy Jasmine jerked in his arms, unconsciously reaching for her son.

As the fire continued, Eliot began to suspect that something was wrong. The energy he had felt began to get stronger, feeding into the palace and the fire burning within it. As the fire went on, Jasmine's breathing got shallower and her skin turned clammy.

The fire department showed up moments later. Their efforts to put out the fire were looking like they were for naught. The fire was gaining intensity and range, spreading from the top of the presidential palace. The windows shattered, one-by-one, the top floor first.

The palace burned, hot and quick, uncontrollable flames ate away at every last piece of the building and the things inside. Miraculously, the flames harmed not a single person. Every person working in the building was accounted for on the streets. Moreau was under international arrest, the prisoners had been freed, and the Leverage team and their helpers quickly faded into the background.


End file.
